The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-05-29
THE WATER MAIN TAX.

and members of the City Council are 8
times, ifzot all the time. annoyed an
puzzled. There is q constant din i
their ears. Everybody is clamorous fo
improvements. All are appealing t.
the Council to spend money for this o
that. II the municipal revenue wer,
ten times what it is, It would not nee
more than onetenth of the OUTLAY
which the Council is asked to make every
year. To satisfy the appeals for water
alone would bankrupt the corporation
IN six months, and these appeals are SC
regular and persistent, and those who
present them are so often unreasonable
thai we are not surprised that the
Council sometimes gets out of patience,
and in its desperation occasionally
considers wild propositions for
escape and relief. We must regard q
plan now before the Council awaiting
action as in the nature of a desperate
expedient. It is that which proposes
to levy tax of so cents foot front on
all lots along which the water mains
are now or will be hereafter laid. The
proposition was laid before the Council
last year, and has since been lettering
with committees or pigeon-holed; we
hoped it bad been forgotten. but
recently it was dug up and advanced
another stage.
We thoroughly appreciate the
dilemma and distress OF the corpora
GiOn authorities. Debts have been in |
Cured for the relief of the people; the
carrying of water over the north bench |
was an expensive undertaking, and
yet everybody felt that it should
be done. The current revenue of the
city is insufficient to meet such
extraordinary outlays, and the conse
quence is the lack of money to me.t the
obligation incurred. But is the so
cents assessment plan the proper one to
remedy the matter? We certainly
think not, and trust the Council will
not adoptit. We must look in another
direction for the relief that will have to
come. We do not know exactly how
many miles of streets have beeu covered l
by mains, but the proposed tax will :
bring to the city treasury between $45,-
900 and $4,000. 1t will also greatly
distress many lot owners, if it does not @
deprive several of their homes. And q
after the money has been obtained, n
what will be achieved? Only tem-i 81
porary relief. The assessment could 8
not be considered in the nature of a /,
tax to reimburse the city for its r.
outlay, as the water works have cost y
perhaps 100000; and if this tax were h
to be regarded as payment for the n
mains, would not the corporation be h
deprived of the right to exact water a
rates from the consumers? This is a fa
matter which the Council should take II
into. consideration. The city cannot n,
change for the water, which belongs to Of
the people-to the lots-and is right n
which cannot be taken awav by the n,
Council. Thus If the lots wnine the
water pay for the pipes conve ying the
water to them, how will the city be able ii
to charge for the service which is now OF
a considerable revenu-? Another, and &C
q very forcible objection to the tax to
is one which was presented NJ
in the Council last week, in the petit bs
lion from the worst afflicted part of the de
;ity-the North Bench. The petitioners of
not only confessed their inability to lei
pay the tax, but also confessed their la
10 h0 q
rates now e1acted if the water were of
to their doors. We all know O.
hat if the tax were levied In that dis he
riot many of the lots would have tn
% be sold at auction by the collector. pc
Ind scores of poor people driven from sh
heir homes. The tax up there simply iac
means that years must pass before the
,eople can get the water.
So many objections to the tax scheme sal
present themselves that We cannot be- !e4
eve it possible the Council will adopt u
/, and especially when the members ma
eaIize, as they will realize when they gre
effect little, that the carrying out of tel
be plan will simply give temporary re- as
eff to the city treasury, without in the Oie
,ast benefting the people; on the con- cal
rary it would Cypress the people.
THE HERALD understands well the 49,
redicament in which the municipal -,
overnment finds itself, with an empty ~
'easury, steadily increasing expenses tbi
nd disgruntled people bounding It TO wif
lake Improvements. We realize tina no,
he corporation should have and must nor
ave more money than it can collect
trough the ordinary channels of rev A
nue. but We cannot think the tt K ate
IAN, as proposed, will provide the day
lief Why not do as was done in tue tina
Ise of the canal-issue bonds? If we in c
I'd waited until the money was in the not